Heather Broster
When talking about the existence or presence of something in English, we use the expressions there is / there’s (singular) and there are (plural). In Italian, the exact equivalents are c’è (singular) and ci sono (plural). C’è is the contracted form of ci + è. In informal speech, English speakers tend to use the abbreviation …
The very last king to rule Italy was Umberto II of the House of Savoy. Immediately following the 1946 referendum to abolish the monarchy and the transformation of Italy into a republic, he was exiled to Cascais on the Portuguese Riviera, having reigned for a mere 34 days. Umberto II’s departure marked the end of …
We already covered how to say “grandma” (nonna) in a previous article, so now it’s time to talk about the other half of the grandparent team! The most common way to say grandpa or grandfather in Italian is nonno (plural: nonni which can mean either grandpas or grandparents). Your paternal grandfather is your nonno paterno …
One of the first verbs all serious learners must master in Italian is essere which is the infinitive verb for to be or to exist. Because it is an irregular verb, it isn’t as easy to conjugate as regular -are, -ire and -ere verbs such as mangiare (to eat), venire (to come), and vedere (to …
Mi raccomando is one of those wonderfully Italian phrases that cannot easily be translated into English because there isn’t an exact equivalent. It comes from the verb raccomandare which translates to recommend or to entrust but by making it reflexive (raccomandarsi) it becomes to plead with, to beg or to implore. Mi sono raccomandato tanto …
When I first moved to Italy back in 2008, one of the biggest culture shocks I experienced was the general apathy towards Halloween. I originally come from Canada, a country that like the USA enjoys celebrating Halloween as much as Christmas and Easter, so it was a surprise to see October 31st come and go …